Realm Runners

CHAPTER FOURTY ONE: Rescue and Escape

4

AUG/13

The Sewer Tunnels

The corridor rumbles and shifts and the water ripples in an unnatural manner. For a moment Mentathenis, Sam, Nitzi, Athena, Droggle and Splug begin to feel lifted, as if the entire structure is rising and pulling them gently under the water. Shortly after, a second rumble echoes, and then the Enclave is quiet again. It seems the Mythallar is getting closer to being fully repaired. Xinlenal, the first Enclave will fly again soon.

Saranine’s Rescue

They return to the Ritual Chamber and find a different scene. It has been cleaned, and a glowing necrotic circle is now obvious in the center of the main platform. Saranathia lies within it. She appears badly wounded and unconscious. The Cult of the Dragon Priestess stands before her, holding a mirror and three other robed cultists assist. Five Knights of Shade guard the platform stairs.

As the heroes tread water, A blood curdling moan of a 1,000 dead emanates through the walls. The Shade Knights turn to each other in surprise. One of them yells out “We are under attack! Protect the Mythallar!” And they all exit the chamber, leaving the Ritual and the cultists unguarded.

As the six swim closer and start to pull themselves quietly out of the water, the can see that Sara is being drained of blood, which is pulled from her by four corrupted vats. Around the edge of the platform. When the blood gets close enough to each of the four vats, it is turned to red mist and sucked into the vat where it reemerges and drifts back into the Silver Dragon in the form of chilling silver mist. She is very weak, and can not stand or fight.

They charge up onto the platform to rescue Saranine. Droggle goes straight for the vats of corruption and Splug treads around, springing from the most to attack the cultists. Sam takes on the guise of a Knight of Shade and confusing the Priestess, and interrupting the ritual. Athena, Mentathenis and Nitzi stick the the platform’s stairs. Athena lends her clerical might and healing to her allies, while Mentatenis assaults with the arcane. Nitzi tries to stay out of trouble.

After long the vats are destroyed and the ritual circle is cleansed. The three cultists are killed and the heroes focus their attacks on the Priestess. When she becomes bloodied, she offers threat of what will happen when Aurgloroasa hears of their insolence. She applogises to the Dracolich having failed her, and clutches her chest, wracked in pain. Then she explodes.

Sara now in her eladrin form, is removed from the ritual circle by Sam and Splug and manages to become conscious just long enough to speak to Mentathenis…

“Mentathenis…I don’t think, that I…will be able to…write. Write this down…The subject appears to have been drained of her blood…that…they were using some sort of…corrupted basin to change the blood to a necrotic mist…It appeared cold…freezing… like being encased in ice. The subject may have lost…too much, blood to walk, and the Ouch! Mist! Seems to have tenderized it’s scales, eek! And bones. Subject was recovered of the agents of the Cult of the Dragon, under the lead of a housewife named Dyana, by her research team. Mentathenis, could you get someone to carry me? Thank-y…”

They bind their many wounds and attempt to stabilize Saranine.

The city shifts and moves, once more attempting to rise from it’s long rest. It shifts partially into the shadowfell and causes the rooms and hallways to be harder to navigate.

Looking Ahead

Splug explores stealthily. The doors on the East side of the ritual chamber are closed and locked but The goblin is able to pop them. Through the corridors and back to the Mythallar room, he finds it swarmed with Knights of Shade.

Through the North door of the ritual chamber and down the corridors he emerges into a series of stone walkways floating above a vast graveyard, filled with an army of the undead. Skeletons and Zombies mill about beneath the “Web of Stone.”

He returns to the ritual chamber to inform his friends that between the Shade Knights and the army of the dead, he recommends taking on the army. Mentathenis recommends they also check the South and they encounter a lone Shade Knight guard and kill him within an ornate hallway of reliefs of the twelve Princes of Shade. When they kill the guard, he hisses in his final breath. “Master they approach your chamber, be on your guard!” Then the shadow is expelled from his blackened armor with force and it clangs to the ground.

They continue on to discover a large chamber. The city lurches and begins to rise. This time, they do not feel it land.

A View from the Sword Coast

The water splashes against the side of the Tombstone, it creaks and bends, it’s sails full. Gregor Faringray walks back from the bow and gives every one a comforting smile. “We’ll put into Neverwinter just as they’re lighting the lanterns at the Gullhouse. Not much farther now. I wanted to thank you all for being such a good cre…” At this point Braeden, standing at the foredeck yells out “What in the Trackless Sea is that!?” He points shoreside. Beyond the cliff beach and deep forest, to the the distant North East, a dark shape is slowly rising into the sky.

Aces, Megilwath, Ehd, Cliff, Terrlen, Lythannis, the Feypoppies and their dwarven escorts all move to the rail of the boat to look on.

A large chamber scattered with blood and bodies. Something terrible happened there. Near the center of the room three large sickly glowing crystals pulse with necrotic energy, a fourth, lies shattered on the floor, surrounded by Spectral Servants attempting to repair it. Near the throne, The prince of Xinlenal stands in the center, a trance of swirling necrotic energy is being sent to him from the crystals, A statue of the dark goddess Shar looms over the altar.

As the heroes reveal themselves, the prince asks that they do not interrupt his ritual and they are free to leave. They decide not to take his offer despite Sam’s vote to do do so. Sam and Mentathenis are able to identify the ritual involving the four corrupted eladrin crystals. The prince is using the relics to form a gate to the Shadowfell in order to bring forth the “Messenger.” The three servants are attempting to repair the shattered crystal in order to activate the final link.

Droggle charges in to pull the Spectral Servants away from their repairs on his way to the prince, who quickly teleports away from the dwarf. Splug stealths around the side to move into a flanking position. Sam and Athena move in towards the crystals to work on cleansing them of their corruption. Mentathenis alerts the group of their origins and launches his attacks with Nitzi cheering him on.

They are able to cleanse all three crystals who’s healing energy is channeled into the fourth, repairing it. Where before the beams were necrotic, healing the enemy and harming the heroes, the tables are now turned. They have a little trouble dealing with the three spectral servants, whom prince Than’tul continues to raise to fight on.

During the ongoing battle Sam and Mentathenis notice a glowing portal being formed within the four functioning eladrin crystals. They think whatever is going to come through will need help, namely permission to come into the plane. Sam channels healing energy into the portal to unlock the gate.

Splug takes out some more spectral servants, while Droggle manages to trap the Prince in one of the healing beams, stripping his necrotic power and quickly wearing him down. Eventually he warns them that if they strike him down he will become more powerful than they could possibly imagine. And then he succumbs to Droggle’s insults and the healing beam. Just as the heroes are able to take a breather, the prince rises from the dead!

And then he flops right back down dead from standing in the beam of positive energy. He does this three more times before he is fully shifted into the shadowfell, and then flies out as an invincible ghostly specter!

Just as Sam finishes opening the Feygate. The heroes release an ancient spirit of the Feywild, she seems a bit disoriented at first, but once getting her bearings she zaps the prince of Xinlenal into complete non-existence. Then tells the heroes to wait there while she goes and surveys the structure. They are hardly able to take a breath before she zips back and tells them to get to safety, she has found what she believes to be the energy source for the city, and she will destroy it.

Before she zips out, Sam and Mentathenis ask the spirit if she can help Saranine. She informs them that her corrupted injuries are too great, and she would have to bring the dragon into the Feywild in order to heal her. They agree, but before she is transported int the Feywild, Sara wakes long enough to give Mentathenis the map to a place called “The God’s Island” in the Trackless Sea, and 2500 gold to help towards the charter of a ship in Neverwinter.

The Feyspirit then whisks Saranine into the Feywild and zips back towards the Mythallar room.

Across the Web of Stone

The heroes run back through the ritual chamber and through the north door, through more passageways and out into the mind bending Web of Stone. On one of the upper walkways is a Shadar’Kai Witch rallying the undead army into action.

As the heroes attempt to navigate the Web, the ended swarm into it, while behind them, two necrotic circles summon in strange necrotic energy creatures, that when near each other, form beams that sear living flesh. They fight through the mob, and eventually take out the Witch along their way to the edge of the graveyard and city. The city lurches a few times and begins to spin slowly out of control as the ancient eladrin spirit does her damage to the Mythallar.

Splug leads them through the twisting stone walkways over to an arcane prison for what appears to be an uncorrupted energy being. Sam and Mentathenis work together to open the magical seal, releasing the strange creature blasting into the sky.

Mentathenis catches sight of an Eladrin Hippogriff rider and signals to it. When the Hippogriff rider lands, they recognize her as Mira Shadowmoon. She tells them that it looks like the city is falling and asks if they have a way off. They ask her for assistance and she blows an exotic horn, calling in a pack of Hippogriff, to carry them out of the dying Shadovar City.

On the backs of Hippogriffs, into the evening sky, Mentathenis, Sam, Nitzi, Athena, Droggle and Mira escape the doomed enclave. Below them, the Eladrin of Sharandar fight the remaining undead milling about the crater left by the city. Behind them Xinlenal blows apart, sending pieces of debris flying hundreds of miles away and sending shock waves through the air.